The present invention relates to neural devices, and in particular to a new and useful neuromodulation transfection system.
Various research and clinical neuroscience applications may involve a combination of different techniques for perturbing neural circuits and measuring a response of the perturbed circuit, where the responses of the cells are typically sensed and/or recorded with neurosensing electrodes. Stimulation may be electrical such as with conductive electrode sites, or may be optical such as with optogenetic tools. Optogenetics is a developing technique that uses light-sensitive ion channels for optical stimulation of neural tissue, which allows experimenters or medical practitioners to selectively excite and/or silence particular neural pathways with high precision. To create such light-sensitive ion channels, a viral vector carrying an opsin such as ChR2 or Halorhodopsin (either in the form of DNA code or as a protein) is introduced, for example using surgical methods, into target tissue with cell-type specificity. Electroporation (also known as electropermeabilization), in which an externally applied electric field increases the permeability of a cell membrane, may also be performed as part of the surgery to facilitate delivery of the viral vector. To subsequently utilize the optical neural manipulation techniques, yet another surgical technique is required to introduce an optical stimulator, electrical stimulator, and/or neurosensing components. In other words, the combined use of these neuroscience techniques requires multiple separate surgeries and/or implants. However, each additional procedure or implant increases the difficulty of spatially co-locating the biologics (e.g. relating to electroporation and viral vector delivery), optical light source, neurosensing components, and other components such as drug delivery devices for therapeutic agents. Furthermore, performing multiple surgical procedures may risk creating complications for the subject or patient.
Thus, there is a need in the neural device field for a new and useful neuromodulation transfection system.